Nature's Template

Nature's Template

One of our core values at Polyface is following nature’s template. What does this actually mean? 

Our culture seems to be moving further away from nature, and our thoughts about it can tend to be relegated to recreational activities like hiking and leisurely moments of spending time in the garden. But the natural world is around us 24/7 teeming with life and there is much we can learn from its patterns.

I would like to explore three patterns we see in nature and show you how we seek to implement each pattern in how we raise our Polyface animals.

1.) Diversity

Nature does not put things in boxes like we can be prone to do. Instead, everywhere you look, nature thrives on diversity. Let’s take plants as an example; a healthy natural habitat (think prairie or forest, etc) needs to have multiple species to function. Grasses and other plants bring different minerals to provide healthy soil. Animals all form a part of a food chain which requires a diverse number of animals (predators and prey) to form a healthy ecosystem.

At Polyface, we seek to mimic and therefore encourage the natural ecosystems around us. We invite diversity into the picture as we graze in a way to encourage the growth of native grasses, erect bird houses to welcome our feathered friends and build ponds to stimulate a growing community of pond life.

2.) Symbiotic Relationships

In the same vein, we see nature not working as a lone wolf but in relationship. In the same way that diversity can be critical to the health of an ecosystem, symbiotic relationships can ensure survival between species. Have you ever seen videos of the flocks of birds that follow herds of wild buffalo eating flies, etc? This is an example of a symbiotic relationship. A relationship which benefits both parties, often providing protection or needed nutrients to each other.

This is the idea behind the Polyface egg mobile. We use chickens to come behind where the cows have grazed to eat fly larvae and clean up and sanitize the pasture. The pigs turn our cows manure for us, turning it into compost. The cows graze down long grass to make it a suitable height for the poultry to be able to enjoy. All over the farm, you can see examples of these symbiotic relationships!

3.) Functionality and beauty

Many things in life seem to hang on a balance beam between two extremes and I view functionality and beauty as one of these spectrums. On the one hand, nature doesn’t waste things, it has built in building crews, clean up crews and more. But nature is so utterly beautiful, a magnificent creation that takes your breath away. Nature somehow performs its functions in a glorious, beautiful way. We need the sun for mere survival yet each sunrise and sunset is so breathtaking and it doesn’t have to be.

We try to model this juxtaposition at Polyface. No, we don’t have random things around the farm that are there just because, we are a working farm that is seeking to raise clean meat for you and teach others to do the same. But at the same time, we hope that you can see the ordered beauty of nature shine through as we work, talk to you, build structures, graze animals and maintain our farm.

Polyface is dedicated to following nature’s template to bring you the best meat to nourish your family. Three ways we do this is by encouraging diversity, implementing symbiotic relationships between species and embracing both functionality and beauty. 

Come out to the farm to visit and see for yourself the nature that is cultivated around here each day!

Blessings,

Priscilla